The concluding chapter provides a summary of the comparative textual analyses that have contributed to the proposed reconstruction of the sequence of practices the Buddha is most likely to have personally taught as the means to achieve enlightenment. It goes on to offer an interpretation of the advanced meditative techniques through which each of the three knowledges is achieved. This interpretation is based on personal introspective examination of the efficacy of specific meditative practices and draws on the Thai monk Buddhadasa’s understanding of how the language used by the Buddha to describe these knowledges should be construed. Support is provided by reference to the widespread belief at the time of the Buddha in microcosm–macrocosm parallelism. The chapter concludes by drawing out some of the implications that the methodology of comparative analysis of texts has for the wider field of Buddhist studies.

Concentration is the final stage of the noble eightfold path but is followed by insight and liberation in the tenfold series. It is usually described as achieved through practice of a series of four ever deeper states of mental one-pointedness known as jhānas. This series is often extended to five in later texts and may be followed by a second series of so-called “formless states” culminating in complete “cessation”. This chapter identifies key discrepancies between the fourfold and fivefold series, focussing particularly on the description of first jhāna and how this should be understood. The discussion critically examines the conclusions of other Buddhist scholars as to how differing accounts are likely to have arisen. It concludes that concentration as understood in early Buddhism originally consisted only of the set of four jhānas and that the sequence of “formless states” is therefore almost certainly a late doctrinal addition.

The title of this chapter refers to the term used in the Pali canon to enumerate the eighteen-stage path of practice said to have been followed by the Buddha to attain liberation. Comparison of this Pali sequence with parallel accounts in other schools preserved in Chinese enables certain discrepancies to be identified, and a discussion follows as to how these might have arisen. The chapter then notes the existence of two shorter paths in which the number of steps is reduced to thirteen by omitting five supernormal knowledges or to eleven by further omitting the first two of the three knowledges that the Buddha gained on the night of his enlightenment. By comparing all three lists and taking account of the Buddha’s own description of what he experienced that night, it is concluded that the thirteen-stage path is in all probability the earliest version.

Buddhist origins and discussion of the Buddha’s teachings are amongst the most controversial and contested areas in the field. This bold and authoritative book tackles head-on some of the key questions regarding early Buddhism and its primary canon of precepts. Noting that the earliest texts in Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese belong to different Buddhist schools, Roderick S. Bucknell addresses the development of these writings during the period of oral transmission between the Buddha’s death and their initial redaction in the first century bce. A meticulous comparative analysis reveals the likely original path of meditative practice applied and taught by Gotama. Fresh perspectives now emerge on both the Buddha himself and his enlightenment. Drawing on his own years of meditative experience as a Buddhist monk, the author offers here remarkable new interpretations of advanced practices of meditation, as well as of Buddhism itself. It is a landmark work in Buddhist studies.

This chapter examines various alternative accounts of the path of practice that derive from either the long, eighteen-stage or the shorter, thirteen-stage version. Some of these derivative accounts have parallels from other schools preserved in Chinese, while others do not. Where parallel versions exist, discrepancies between them are analysed, with the focus on comparison of lists, and explanations provided. The chapter goes on to compare and discuss several ways in which stages of the path have been combined into groups of three, four, or five members named for what each achieves. The chapter concludes by showing how differences identified between parallel versions in Pali and Chinese texts from different schools or comparison of accounts from the same school fall into four easily explicable categories: deliberate omission; degree of differentiation; irregularity of sequence; and erroneous transmission. Explaining how differences arose in one of these four ways reveals deep structural agreement among the various versions.

The introductory chapter presents the problem posed for all Buddhists by the existence of differing versions of what the Buddha taught, preserved by different early schools of Buddhism, in different languages. Using specific examples, it shows how by focussing on these very textual discrepancies, the methodology of comparative analysis to be applied in this book can actually reveal what is most likely to have been the Buddha’s original teaching. A discussion follows of the assumptions underlying this methodology and how it might be applied to core components of Buddhist doctrine. The chapter concludes by showing how the structure of the book is defined by the fourth of the Buddha’s four noble truths, which specifies the path of practice to be followed to end suffering and attain enlightenment.

This chapter provides the historical context of “early Buddhism”, the roughly four centuries of oral transmission from the death of the Buddha until his teachings were written down for the first time. It recounts how Buddhist doctrine was memorised by chanting aloud, using such mnemonic devices as repetition and ordered lists; it also shows how errors in transmission could have been introduced. Such errors became more likely as Buddhism spread throughout the Indian sub-continent and beyond into Central Asia, the number of monasteries increased, and sectarian differences arose, with each school preserving its own canon. The importance of comparative textual analysis is demonstrated by reference to accounts in Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese of the Buddha’s first sermon, the founding of the Buddhist Saṅgha (order of monks), and of the First Buddhist Council.

This chapter examines the best known and documented summary of the Buddha’s path to enlightenment, the noble eightfold path. This lists eight stages beginning with right view and ending with right concentration. It is pointed out, however, that this list stops short of the three associated meditative practices by means of which, according to the Buddha’s own account, he attained enlightenment. Discussion then turns to the much less well-known Tenfold Path, which does include the final stages of the “stepwise training”. How the two versions came to exist is explained by taking account of the historical context of and polemical differences within early Buddhism. This analysis suggests that an original eightfold path was first extended to ten stages through the addition of two initial stages, then later reduced to the canonical eight by excising the final two stages, which henceforth were taught only to the most advanced meditators.

This chapter surveys the corpus of early Buddhist texts that have survived the passage of time and can be consulted by scholars. These comprise the complete canon of the Theravāda school written in Pali, a significant amount of the canon in Sanskrit belonging to the Sarvāstivāda school, plus more in Chinese translation, and substantial portions of the canons of other schools, also preserved in Chinese. Determining whether particular texts were early or later, along with analysis of their mode of transmission, enables them to be evaluated as sources for comparative analysis. This rather technical chapter concludes with a discussion of difficulties encountered in drawing parallels between texts from different schools in different languages.

Textual accounts of the three knowledges by means of which the Buddha attained enlightenment are brief. The first two, recollection of former existences and of the passing away and arising of beings, prepared the way for the third, destruction of the “taints” (āsavas), mastery of which achieved liberation. The focus of this chapter is on what attainment of these three knowledges entails and on how a meditator could transition from the highly concentrated state of the fourth jhāna to recollection of former existences. A little-known text suggests that concentration must be relaxed just enough to allow the arising of a “reviewing-sign”, a process explained by means of appropriate similes. The discussion concludes that, like a charioteer at a crossroads, the appearance of this image confronts the meditator with a choice: whether to enter one of the Buddhist heavens; develop supernatural powers; or seek liberation through pereforming the meditative practices required to attain the three knowledges.